Balancing Rock Spotted on Comet 67P

Posted on May 28, 2015

Astronomers have spotted a balancing rock on comet 67P. The rock was spotted by scientists from Rosetta's OSIRIS team. Images showing the balancing rock were taken on 16 September 2014 from a distance of 29 kilometers.

The balancing rock is located in the Aker region on the larger lobe of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The largest boulder in a group of three boulders has a diameter of 30 meters. It appears to perch on the rim of a small depression. A larger version of the above image can be found here. The astronomers note in a release that similar geological formations are found on Earth. Some balancing rocks even rock back and forth and are known as "rocking stones."

OSIRIS Principal Investigator Holger Sierks from the Max Planck Institute, says in a statement, "How the potential balancing rock on the comet was formed, is not clear at this point." Sierks also says, "Interpreting images of the comet's surface can be tricky."

OSIRIS scientist Sebastien Besse from ESA, who discovered the possible balancing rock, says in a statement, "We had noticed this formation already in earlier image. However, at first the boulders did not seem to differ substantially from other we had seen."

This image below provides a larger view of comet 67P to indicate where on the comet the balancing rock is located.


More from Science Space & Robots